Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Ankica's Cookie Cutter Story

I was starting to get frustrated by the girls being underfoot one day so I gave them the cookie cutter bin to play with. I had been wanting to purge some unused and old shapes anyway.


Ankica set up the gingerbread men (why did I need more than one?) and said, "Daddy, Wiwi (translation: Lilly)". Then she looked down at the pile and said "Mommy" like she finally found me.
I said, "Where is Mommy?" And she held this cookie cutter up...

I was about to cry! And then I asked where Ankica was...and she held up the apple. Yup, my baby...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree :-)

They were specially "picked" :-)

Whilst goofing around with Daddy's guitar, a sweaty Ankica got a pick on her head. What happened next always happens...Mommy decides it is a good photo opp and so everyone gets a pick on their head, except Mommy of course.


Monday, September 29, 2008

Publications - revisited

Over on the right, I have added a link to the content websites for Loran and me. I have had three more articles published just today.

I have added a blog list too...this blog thing is SO user friendly! I am finding new fun things to do with it all the time!

So, if you read my blog and have a blog of your own that I don't know about...send the link!

"I am published"

Okay, well, I was published before, but this is different :-) I have four published first-author manuscripts from my Master's degree and five from my Ph.D. I am co-author on a number of other ones, including a few from after I got married, so my name is hyphenated. It's so cool.

If anyone wants to see a copy of any of it, let me know :-) (Like if you need some help falling asleep...)

Anyway, for my newest publication check this out! It is a website that I found while blog-hopping and Loran and I have both been submitted content for publication. It takes about a week for them to accept articles when you first start but then the turnaround is much faster.

I will let you know as we put more content up there. Right now I have three published articles. The title of one of the pieces came out wrong but I can't change it (oh well) and the poetry is actually Loran's...he is way better at that than I am. I can't wait until his articles get published so I can link you to them. He is a better writer than he gives himself credit for!

So, go and read my work on Associated Content! Often! (Did I mention we get paid for every view of our work?)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Julia's Project

Decided not to do anything else with this information so here it is.

Can I just say "Ugh"?.

Luckily, Loran and I keep up with the website that Julia's teacher has and noticed that there was a Landform Project due on the day she got back from vacation. Small problem. Her mother said there was no homework for the week off. (For the sake of all, I will make no further comment here.)
We pulled together and the teacher responded to an email halfway through the week and we got the details on the assignment. We rushed to the hobby store, got the supplies and completed the project to the best of our abilities in just 2 1/2 days. Lots of lessons learned by ALL of us.



Here is a little photojournal of the process.



















The best cookie-helpers

Last weekend, the girls and I decided to make some M&M cookies. Ankica and Julia love to help but Ankica got distracted by the dishes in the sink. So she did the dishes while Julia and I did the baking. I think it worked out well.



For a drop cookie, this one came out the most perfect of all of them. Round, perfect spaced chips and candies, crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. And I let Julia eat it! Now she can never say that I don't love her :-)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Lillian: Troublemaker

Have I mentioned yet that Lillian is going to be my troublemaker? Here are some indications:


1) She likes the smell of diaper wipes close to her nose. Weird, I know.

2) She likes to sit in the refrigerator (Lillian started it, Ankica followed along.)


3) She eats whole fruits, like pears, but then spits out the skin EVERYWHERE. The animals don't like the skins. Ever stepped on a piece of wet pear skin late at night and not known WHAT you stepped in? If you have dogs, cats, and kids, you know what I mean.


4) She can't decide whether she is right-handed or left-handed. Such indecision can't be good :-)


5) She is already bumming rides on motorcycles.

Need I say more?

Ankica's First Painting

Maybe I am a bad mom, but today was the first day that Ankica got to paint on anything. She colors all of the time, and loves bath crayons. But I just never have found the motivation to get paints out.
Today, Julia was working on her landform project(which will show up on the blog after I publish it elsewhere) and Ankica saw the paints. Done deal. Here is her creation. As her mother, I am incredibly impressed :-)



(The initials were her daddy's artwork.)

Is she really only 27 months old?

Sometimes I say Ankica is two and people look at me funny because she is tall. But then she "talks" and they realize that she isn't the "almost three" kind of two, she is the "only two" kind of two. So we talk in months sometimes. When I tell people I have a 12 month old and a 27 month old, it sounds better than saying they are 1 and 2, because they aren't 12 months apart. Of course, none of this really matters, I just randomly blab sometimes.

But when I look at pictures like this, I am thankful that she really is only 2. I am not ready for my babies to be anything more than a 1 year old and a 2 year old.

Goal Number 1: Accomplished!

It is going to be a long time before you all see many pictures of me on this blog. I am only a small part of the way into my weight loss journey. When I'm done, I'll show pictures :-)

So this is what I got today: for reaching your 10% goal, you get a keychain. I had already achieved the 25 lb weight loss charm and the 16 week hands-clapping charm. I am at 30.8 pounds total, only 3.4 pounds away from the next lower "middle" number :-) Because I have such a long way to go, I decided that my next big goal will be 10% from today. My next small goal is 9 pounds away. I hope to get there before the next big event in our lives. Wish me luck!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Too cute not to...


Gotta post it...

Georgia Aquarium

Yesterday we went to pick Julia up from north Georgia because she has the week off of school so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and we visited the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

It was SO fun. I really believe that I would have been a marine biologist had I been born on one of the coasts. But I was born in the Midwest, so I became a dairy scientist. Go figure.



Anyway, here is some of what we saw. Ankica wasn't too sure about the fish "Deepo" but got close enough for this picture. We bought tickets that included seeing the 3D wondershow with Deepo and although I didn't get to see her from where I was sitting, Loran said that Ankica had a blast. Apparently, when the little fish and the bubbles and things would jump off of the screen because of the 3D glasses, Ankica would try to reach for them. Loran had more fun watching her than the show :-)


Ankica was trying to catch "bugs" while we were waiting for Loran. Just so you know, in case you ever go to the Georgia Aquarium, they tell you not to bring guns, or knives, or matches, or lighters, etc. However, their security is very disappointing. So if you know us, you probably know what that means. But just be aware that security is awfully lax.


When you first walk in, there is a wall of fish. The girls had never seen so many fish before and they didn't want to leave until we let them know there were MANY more to see :-)




There was a touch pool where we could touch little rays and bonnethead sharks.

















After eating we moved to the tanks with the whale sharks. There are four (the biggest is 21 feet in length and they grow to be 40 feet or more!) and Loran got some great photos of that tank.













































Other than the whale sharks and the beluga whales (coming up), my other favorite place was the Pacific reef. Brightly colored fish and a brightly lit room made for some good photos. Of course, I am sure Kacie's will be better!

Lillian fell asleep but Ankica loved these fish! And Julia, of course!















The beluga whales were beautiful and the male was a real show off :-)


Everyone was tired after the excitement of the day but Ankica always expresses herself the best (as is typical for our first-born two year old).

Need I say more?